gags

In my 200th episode of Matt Chat, Jeff Tunnell, founder of Dynamix, returns to talk about his company's greatest hits, which probably aren't the games you're thinking of. Then he talks about his fall out with Electronic Arts. Needless to say, if you're a fan of classic adventure games or flight sims, you won't be able to turn away from this episode.

I'm back this week with The Longest Journey, a game proposed by Crow of Retro Road Show. While the game suffers from a very slow start, if you can get through the first couple hours you'll be rewarded with one of the best game narratives ever.

This week's episode is a retrospective of Sierra's classic graphical adventure game Police Quest. Designed by a real-life policemen (Jim Walls), this game is unique in the Sierra lineup and boasts three sequels. Offering great humor in addition to serious police work--not surprising since Al Lowe was involved--Police Quest was the first Sierra game I ever played. I was never able to get very far since I had a pirated copy with no manual (the irony!), but that didn't stop me from trying and having a great time with it.

Well, it had to happen sooner or later! This week, it's back the late 90s for the game many people consider the Greatest Game that ever killed a genre. That's exaggeration, of course, but it does make for a good headline. The story goes that although the game did reasonably well--it was NOT a commercial failure, despite the pundits--it wasn't exactly the cash bonanza that LucasArts was expecting. End result--they pulled the plug on their adventure game development. Now you had a situation where the two greats--LucasArts and Sierra--were not making adventure games anymore. Of course, Cyan was still around, but nobody but me seems to count them.

I'm back this week with David Fox round III, this time focusing on his epic adventure game, Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders. David has plenty of great stories about the game's development, as well as Lucasfilm Games development strategies in general. It's really fun hearing him talk about the competition between his company and Sierra On-Line--and speculate why Zak was so much more popular in Germany than elsewhere. The ale this week hales from the Netherlands, so naturally I had to offer a toast to our very own Mark Vergeer. ;)

Hi, guys! I'm back with part three of my interview with the amazing Josh Mandel. In this segment (which is frankly required viewing for any true fan of classic computer games), Josh talks about how thinks went awry at Sierra, eventually sending him on a quest to find a new publisher in Legend. He also chats about his favorite creation, Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, and the future of adventure games as a viable genre.

I'm back this week with part two of my funtastic chat with Josh "Josho" Mandel. This time, the maestro chats about why point-and-clicks were a dumbing down from the parser days, the making of Freddy Pharkas, his voicework as King Graham, his thoughts on LucasFilm and Myst (loves the former; loathes the latter), and Space Quest 6.

If you want to buy Space Quest 4-6 for only $10, DRM free, get it here to support Matt Chat at no extra cost to you!

I'm back this week for the second and final segment of my chat with the excellent Jeff Williams. If you don't think Jeff is awesome, it's because you haven't watched these videos. The guy knows exactly what's wrong with the industry and isn't afraid to speak his mind! You also have to admire anyone with the audacity to self-fund such a huge project and the persistence to see it through. And by the way, if you haven't already purchased Darkstar: The Interactive Movie, quit being a lamer and grab it now, if for no other reason than to support this heroic effort to fight the power. We need more guys like Jeff for the betterment of our favorite hobby.

This week, I'm chatting with Jeff Williams of Parallax Studios, the one-man band behind the epic graphical adventure Darkstar: The Interactive Movie. Jeff is a colorful and witty guy, with lots of fascinating insights and opinions about movies, games, and much more. Would a young George Lucas be able to get Star Wars passed the bean counters today? How about Spielberg's Jaws?

Hi, guys, I'm back, this time with the first part of an excellent interview with Agustín Cordes, the Argentina-based designer and developer of Scratches and the forthcoming Asylum. Both games are fine examples of horror adventures, with first-person gameplay and painstaking, artistic production. Here, Agustín talks about Asylum's engine (formerly called Kinesis), as well as the design of Scratches, the state of indie gaming, and much, much more.